Do you ever stop and think about the journey the stuff you buy takes before it reaches your hands? From the mining of precious metals, oil and minerals, to huge factories, cargo containers, and shipping yards, to the advertising, packaging and store shelves, right on down to your cart. Each item we buy has a lengthy history, and that is only the beginning. After the items we buy have served us, with whatever we needed them or enjoyed them for, we often toss them into the trash can where they're transported to a dump and covered in dirt so they can begin the long process of slowly eroding back into the earth.

The problem is, some of the materials that erode contain dangerous poisons that can leak out, contaminating the soil, draining into our water systems, causing animals and humans to get sick and in some cases die. It's bad for the earth and it's bad for us. Big factories belch out chemicals into the air to produce all the stuff we consume, and in some cases the earth is hurting because of it.

Stewards

Recycling has gone a long way to help with this problem, but it doesn't go far enough. We must become smarter, more health minded in our shopping and purchasing habits, shunning those companies that profit from hurting the earth that God has so graciously made us stewards of. One way we can promote healthy practices is by enacting legislation that rewards companies that go the extra mile to produce sustainable products that are less harmful.

As consumers, we can actually help industry decide what to produce. When we shop smart and buy products that are not only healthy to use, but have been produced by companies that care about each step of the manufacturing process, we’ll end up with product choices that we feel better about purchasing. Ultimately we want to be able to pass down to our kids healthy lifestyles and an ecosystem that is able to sustain the wildlife, forests, farmlands and the many splendors that God originally intended for us to enjoy!

No matter how much we try to change the tide on this earth, there will always be resistance. But with the help of God and the hope He gives us, we can rest in knowing that He has His arm behind us and that He will never forsake us.